This is for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning.

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Sunday, April 3, 2016

No Reason to Lift Charter School Cap

originally published in the Hampshire Daily Gazette: http://www.gazettenet.com/Opinion/Columns/Max-Page---Eve-Weinbaum-No-reason-to-lift-charter-school-cap-1140117

A pro-charter school campaign recently filed a referendum question
that will appear on our ballot this fall. The well-funded Wall Street
organizations behind this campaign are urging Massachusetts voters and
legislators to “lift the cap” on charter schools. But what exactly is
the “cap” and why do advocates want to “lift” it?

The truth is
that Massachusetts has never come close to the cap on numbers of charter
schools. That truth reveals the fundamental deceit of the charter
crusade.

In 1993, the Massachusetts legislature created two
categories of charter schools: Commonwealth charters and Horace Mann
charters.

Commonwealth charters are publicly funded but
privately run schools with minimal oversight. There is no elected or
governmentally appointed oversight of charters on a daily, week,
monthly, or even yearly basis. The schools are approved by the Board of
Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), whose members are hand-picked
by the governor. Democratically elected school committees and local
governments have no say in the creation or activities of Commonwealth
charter schools.

At the February meeting of BESE, for example, a
unanimous group of elected officials from Brockton – City Council
members, mayor, state representatives, a state senator, the school
committee – urged that BESE not create a charter school that would drain
millions of dollars from Brockton schools. The board voted 7-3 to
approve the charter anyway.

Horace Mann charters are different; they are more like what
many school systems call “magnet” schools. These schools are created
for the same ostensible reason as Commonwealth Charters – to meet a need
or to provide an alternative for families. Unlike Commonwealth
Charters, however, Horace Mann charters are created within a district,
by a vote of the local school committee.

There are several types
of Horace Mann charters, but in all types, the local school committee
oversees the schools and their budgets, as with all truly “public”
schools. Teachers are hired by the district and are members of the
union, although they may not be protected by all of the contract
provisions that apply in traditional schools.

Horace Mann
charters have many advantages. The usual argument for charter schools
is that they have the freedom to innovate without constraints on
curriculum, organization, and budget. But innovation is only effective
if the new methods can be replicated and spread widely to other public
schools. Because Horace Mann charters operate under the same
superintendents and school committees as traditional public schools,
good ideas can be transmitted quickly throughout the district. Horace
Mann teachers must be licensed, unlike teachers in Commonwealth charter
schools.

Because teacher requirements are more stringent and
teachers retain their union membership, teacher turnover is lower, which
research shows to be a crucial predictor of educational quality.

Massachusetts
is close to its limit on privately run Commonwealth charters; we have
71 out of 72 permitted by law. Actually, it isn't that close. While
there are 71 Commonwealth charters, only 57 count toward the cap. The
others 14 do not because they are in the lowest MCAS-scoring districts —
charters in those districts by law do not count toward the cap.

And
we are nowhere near the limit on publicly run Horace Mann charters; we
have only 10 out of a limit of 48. As of the fall of 2016 there will be
only two Horace Mann charter high schools, and eight for younger grades.

So why the urgent call to lift the cap? If charter schools are
so desperately needed for our inner cities, local community members can
advocate immediately for up to 38 Horace Mann charters, potentially
serving upwards of 15,000 students. Even with Commonwealth charters
plenty of leeway exists. If charter school corporations want to provide
options for residents of the lowest-scoring school districts, they don’t
need a referendum or new legislation to create those schools now.

A democratic process already exists, so why aren’t they using it?

The
fact that no one in the pro-charter campaign is talking about Horace
Mann charters suggests a fundamental dishonesty at the heart of the
current debate. The charter campaign is spearheaded by national
organizations run not by educators but by billionaires – the Walton
Foundation, hedge funds, and large corporations who see enormous profits
to be had from privatizing public education. They have committed to
spend $18 million this year to “lift the cap” in Massachusetts.

They
are expecting a huge return on their investment. Although they call
themselves “Families for Excellent Schools” and “Great Schools
Massachusetts,” these organizations are all about money, and they are
betting that under Gov. Baker, Massachusetts will siphon more of
taxpayers’ money toward corporations and their billionaire investors.

Their
campaign has gained support among some state and local activists and
consultants who have disdain for public schools and who distrust
teachers and their unions that together have built the best public
education system in the nation.

These advocates want to bypass
the messy process of democracy; they want to create publicly funded
private schools, without community accountability, without protections
for teachers or students and without restrictions on spending taxpayers’
money.

They want the rest of us to pay for their new private schools. Don’t let them take the “public” out of public education.

Max Page and Eve Weinbaum are public school parents and professors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.